Melora (episode)
Doctor Bashir ends up falling in love with a new officer when he develops a way for her to function in a high gravity environment. Meanwhile, Quark recieves a death threat from one of his former associates. Summary Teaser :"Medical log, stardate 47229.1. Chief O'Brien and I have been working overtime to prepare for the arrival of a new cartographer. Ensign Melora Pazlar is the first Elaysian to join Starfleet, and as such, requires special accommodations." Doctor Bashir and Lieutenant Dax are in the infirmary testing a wheelchair designed for Ensign Pazlar. Dax expresses her amazement that the specifications are even in the replicator's database, saying she hasn't seen one in over three hundred years. Bashir reveals that it wasn't. It was in fact Pazlar herself who had sent him the design due to the fact that her normal anti-grav unit won't work on Deep Space 9, which Bashir likens to the troubles they had with integrating Starfleet cargo lifts. Before they can discuss it further, Major Kira chimes in over the comm system, informing him that the ''Yellowstone'' has just docked at airlock 14. The Doctor responds, telling her they're on their way before taking the wheelchair and heading out with Dax. On the Promenade, Bashir tells Dax how Ensign Pazlar must have had a hard time even getting to the station since she grew up on a planet with such a low surface gravity. Before Dax can reply, Chief O'Brien interupts them, explaining that he has done the best he can with installing ramps but the Cardassian design has made it difficult. Bashir explains he has also been making some modifications to her chair, but O'Brien points out there are still a lot of places where she won't be able to get to. Dax suggests they can help her by using the transporter but as Bashir explains, Melora Pazlar won't have it. She insists on getting about herself once her basic needs are met, something which Bashir greatly admires. He goes on to say that he has examined all of her medical files in preparation then checks with the Chief that her quarters all ready. "I even have the bumps on the head to prove it" the Chief jokes, commenting on the low-gravity system he has installed. In the airlock, Melora is experiencing some difficulty walking. Using a walking stick she makes it to the entrance way before Dax and Bashir appear round the corner. "Ensign Melora Pazlar reporting for duty" she greets. Dax introduces herself and Bashir though Melora already recognises him from their subspace communications. She notices her wheelchair, or trolley car as she calls it, and begins walking towards it. Dax offers her some assistance but Melora abruptly refuses it. Taking a seat in the chair, she notices that it is different from the one she has practised on. Bashir clarifies, saying he wanted to give her as much mobility as possible but offers to change it back if that would help. "No, I'll adapt" she adamantly replies before driving it down the hall. As they walk over one of the ramps O'Brien installed earlier, Dax explains she will be accompanying Melora on her upcoming survey mission at the request of Commander Sisko. Melora objects, taking it as a sign the Commander thinks she needs extra help to get the job done but Dax points out the Commander wouldn't let any ensign take a runabout into the Gamma Quadrant the day after they arrive. As they approach her quarters, she rather apathetically asks Bashir if he has made any modifications to her quarters aswell. He courteosly replies that everything is as she requested it. With that, Melora says it was nice to meet them and heads over the ramp and into her room. Dax and Bashir exchange a confounded look before heading off themselves. Act One In Quark's, a man named Ashrock is admiring one of the Rings of Paltriss. He says there are only eighty of them and Quark just happens to have forty two in his possession, but wants one hundred and ninety nine bars of gold-pressed latinum for them. Quark proposes they "seal the deal" over a drink and so goes behind his bar to grab a bottle. As he approaches the doorway to his bar, a shady figure enters. Quark immediately recognises him and is visibly unnerved by his presence. Fallit Kot is his name, and in a typical Quark way, he begins to flatter him with compliments though he isn't buying it. Leaning in closer, he tells Quark that he has business with him, that he has come to kill him. Meanwhile, in Sisko's office, Bashir and Dax are discussing Melora's situation with the Commander when she arrives in Ops. She wheels her way over Sisko where he welcomes her to the station. Seeing Bashir and Dax she asks if she is late, if the meeting has already begun but Sisko says he was just being informed about her request to pilot the runabout alone, something she expresses a wish to have been involved in. The Commander states he regularly has briefings from his senior staff regarding personal issues and this is no different. As they enter Sisko's office, she apologises for sounding overly sensitive and explains that she is used to being shut out of the "Melora problem", though she believes there is no Melora problem, until people create one. She further objects to Doctor Bashir being present, saying she doesn't want to be treated like someone who is ill, though Commander Sisko doesn't see anyone doing that. "Try sitting in the chair, Commander" she argues, "No-one can understand until they sit in the chair". Calming down slightly, she illustrates the struggle she has been through since leaving her home world, that she has always spent her time in one chair or another since. She shows her cane to Sisko and explains it is made from the wood of a garlanic tree and that her family gave it to her when she left. She reveals how only a handful of Elaysians have ever left her planet, but she knew she wanted to be one of them, how she dreamt of exploring the stars when she was a child and that no chair or Cardassian station is going to stop her from attaining that dream. Sisko admires her but reiterates his concerns about sending her into the Gamma Quadrant alone. Melora says she can focus on the job better but Sisko denies her request. Lieutenant Dax is going with her. They leave tomorrow at 07:30. A little while later, Bashir visits Melora's quarters and asks her how she is finding the low gravity environment they have created for her. She describes the experience as "like slipping into a hot tub at the end of the day". Bashir jokes that he is a shower man himself before examining a photo on the desk, showing her and another man. He asks if it's her husband or boyfriend but she doesn't answer him, instead she apologises for her choice of words in the Commander's office, she says she didn't mean to attack Bashir directly. He knows that she didn't mean any personal offence by it but nonetheless points out that she does a lot of "attacking", an attribute that she demonstrates when scorning Bashir's offer of friendship by telling her to call him Julian instead of Doctor. He makes her realise how others percieve her, how she is always on the defensive, and then suprisingly, asks her out to dinner at the new Klingon restaurant on the Promenade. She accepts, much to his delight. Act Two In his bar, Quark is hard at work trying to appease his latest "customer" with a delicious home cooked meal, starting with Vak clover soup. Quark's "former associate" picks up the dish and pours the soup onto the floor, right in front of Quark. Still thinking he can change his mind, Quark offers up some Jumbo Vulcan mollusk sauteed in Rhombolian butter. Kot takes a bite as Quark explains the game of dabo and how his two "excellent tutors" (dabo girls) can show him how to play. In an attempt to change his mind, Quark makes it clear that he wants Kot's stay on the station to be as pleasurable as possible and to that end, proposes a toast to "old friends". "To old debts" replies Kot. At the Klingon restaurant, Bashir orders some Racht, a double order of Gladst without the sauce and a side order of Zilm'kach. He hands a plate to Melora but she is immediately offended by it. Bashir, thinking it's because of how the food looks, reassures her it tastes good, but that's not what she means. Speaking in fluent Klingon, she barks at the chef to provide Racht where she can see the blood running through the veins. The Klingon laughs noting, "I like a customer who knows what she wants", and snatches the plate from Bashir, flinging it, and the food, behind him. After a few seconds spent behind his kiosk, he returns with some live Racht as ordered. "There's nothing worse than half dead Racht", Melora jokes. As Bashir finishes off the last of the Racht, he recounts a story to Melora. He tells her of how, when he was ten, he and his father were trapped on Invernia II during an ionic storm and while they were waiting it out, he found a sick Invernian girl. When the storm passed, his father went to get help but it was too late and the girl died in front of his eyes. It was only later that he found out a simple herb that grew all around them, could have saved her life. Melora asks if that was the reason he decided to study medicine, but Bashir jokes he first decided to study tennis though he later found out he was better at medicine. She laughs at him and there is a moment of silence as they gaze into each other's eyes. Melora suddenly breaks the silence and decides it's time to go. She has an early mission in the morning and wants to get some rest. The next day, Dax is walking down the corridor on her way to meet with Melora. She presses her door chime but there is no response. She enters her quarters but she isn't there either and isn't replying to her communication attempts. The computer tells Dax that Melora is on docking level 22, section 14. When she arrives, she find Melora on the floor. Her supports have malfunctioned. She explains how she had come to the storage bay as she wanted to get an addition astrometrics array for mission, but wasn't paying attention and fell. In the infirmary, Bashir is tending to Melora's minor injuries. He tells her they aren't serious though she'll have to postphone her mission to the Gamma Quadrant until tomorrow. She is upset with herself, saying if she had just paid attention she would have been fine. Bashir explains to her that in space no-one is completely independant; they all depend on each other to some degree. When she is fit to leave, Bashir escorts Melora to her quarters. As they are walking down the corridor, he comments on some work Nathaniel Teros did thirty years ago, regarding low-gravity species. Melora recognises his work, but discounts it as not having any practical success though Bashir thinks the principle was sound and with modern advances she may be able to walk in "normal" gravity in the future. As they arrive at her quarters, Melora asks him if he would like to come in. Initially hesitant, Bashir declines to allow her some time in low-gravity, but Melora invites him in anyway. Disengaging the gravity, she flies out of her chairm, doing a backwards summer-sault in the air while Bashir looks on in amazement. She asks him to join her and the two float into the air together where he thanks her for allowing him to experience it with her. As they hang in mid-air, Melora tells Bashir that the man in the photo is her brother, before they lean in and kiss each other. Act Three The arrives in the Gamma Quadrant with Dax and Melora onboard. As they lay in their course, Melora asks the computer if there are any Vulcan etudes on file then asks it to play something by Delvok. Dax confesses she doesn't see Delvok as a Vulcan as there's too much emotion in his music. But Melora likes it, "It's pretty", she says. Turning to Dax, she asks if there is room for romance in Starfleet. Dax believes she has fallen for Doctor Bashir's "charming bedside manner". Melora laughs but on a serious note thinks their two species are completely different, but Dax tells her she once knew a hydrogen breathing Lothra who fell hopelessly in love with an Oxygene who were together for fifty seven years despite the fact they could only spend forty minutes a day in the same room. Melora tells Dax of two Academy friends who got engaged even though they were being assigned to different ships. They agree that "love over lightyears" is hard but, as Dax puts is, "Look at the alternative" Back on the station, Quark has gone to see Odo about Kot, but he suprised to hear the security chief is already aware of him. Odo explains how Kot has recently been released from a labor camp after the attempted hijacking of a shipment of Romulan ale, and Quark's name appears right next to his on the indictment. Quark maintains he had nothing to do with the hijacking itself, he was only the "middle-man" though Odo believes he sold out Kot to avoid himself going to the labor camp. Quark tells Odo of Kot's plan to kill him, to which Odo can only smile at the prospect. He begs odo to do something about it. "I'll do my job, Quark" he tells the Ferengi, who nods and leaves the security office. "...Unfortunately" mutters Odo. In the infirmary, Bashir is working away when Melora enters. He explains to her that he has been going over Nathaniel Teros' Neuromuscular adaptation theory and he believes he can make it work for her. Melora is extremely excited with the prospect, so much she begins to laugh in elation. If it works she may be able to walk without her servo controls, and without the chair. Act Four A security deputy has brought Kot to the security office where Odo is waiting for him. Kot asks if he has done something wrong. Odo replies that they both have something in common; they don't like Quark. However, he isn't prepared to let Kot kill him. He insists that he is not planning to kill Quark and their history is just that - history. Odo says "you can tell a man's intentions by the way he walks" and Kot walks like someone who's carrying a lot of weight on his shoulders. "It must be the memory of those Romulan bricks I carried for eight years" he replies. Odo knows he is up to something but he has no reason to keep him and so allows Kot to leave, keeping a close eye on him as he does so. On the Promenade, Quark approaches him and asks what his opinion is of Kot. Odo admits he believes he is a man with nothing to lose and gives Quark a comm badge so he can stay in contact with him at all times. He jokingly tells Quark that if Kot does kill him, he would like to purchase a piece of his body, as per Ferengi tradition. Back in the infirmary, Melora is laid down on a biobed while Bashir runs some tests on her. She describes a warm sensation down her back, the result of the neuromuscular therapy. The Doctor decides that she has had enough of the treatment for today and asks her how she feels, and if she can use any of her muscles in the "normal" gravity. At first there is nothing, but as Bashir checks over his calculations, Melora begins to move her toes and then her leg. He ascertains her neural pathways are beginning to adapt and she may be able to begin walking within the hour. Jumping to Ops, Sisko asks O'Brien for an update on an upgrade he's installing on the station. He reports he has been able to get it up to 70% of a standard EPS but is then interupted mid-sentence by the sight of Melora standing by herself on the turbolift. She approaches the Commander with her first day's mission report. Sisko is noticeably happy for her but as O'Brien jokes about Bashir getting his name in the medical journals, Melora begins to look unsettled and stumbles into Bashir. The Doctor adjusts her servo controls to compensate as it is just the first days treatment wearing off. Helping her to the turbolift, the two of them head to the habitat ring. In her quarters, Bashir explains that with each progressive treatment her muscles wil get stronger, but unfortunately she won't be able to use the room's low gravity field or she could risk confusing her body's motor cortex. She begins to thank Bashir for all he's done, but he stops her. She let him fly for the first time, so he is repaying that by allowing her to walk. After giving her a kiss, he leaves, saying he'll see her in the morning. Meanwhile, Quark has also gone to his quarters. He enters with a drink in his hand and tells the computer to put on the lights though nothing happens. At first he thinks nothing of it, but soon realises Kot may be in the room. Carefully placing his glass on a table he makes his way back to the door. He tries to call Odo but Kot grabs him by the neck. Quark pleads for his life, offering Kot one hundred and ninety nine bars of latinum, the profit he would get from the sale of the rings. "It's a start" Kot growls, releasing him. Act Five Bashir and Melora are in the infirmary. Melora complains at how everyone of her muscles ached the night before but Bashir says the effect will improve over time, and her next treatment should last for several hours. She seems happy but she misses experiencing low gravity and ask Bashir if she would be allowed to do it occasionally. Unfortunately, he is worried that if she did, she would experience a loss of fine motor control, meaning her ability to perform complex tasks would be affected. He reassures her that if she does change her mind, the effect is reversible for the next few days and all she has to do is say so. Later on, she and Dax are on the Orinoco resuming their cartography mission in the Gamma Quadrant. As she heads for the forward controls, she stumbles slight, indicating her treatment is starting to wear off again. As she takes her seat, she explains to Dax how she is in two minds about the treatment. One the one hand it would give her more freedom than she ever dreamed, but on the other she wouldn't be able to go back to her homeworld for anything more than a short visit. Dax compares her situation to The Little Mermaid, a old Earth fable by Hans Christian Andersen. Melora asks if she lived happily ever after but Dax remains silent. On the station, Quark and Kot are meeting with Ashrock in an airlock. After the necessary introductions, Ashrock hands his bag of latinum to Kot while Quark hands over the rings. However, once Kot has finished checking the payment is there, he pulls out a weapon and shoots Ashrock in the chest. He quickly forces Quark to grab both the latinum and the rings and makes an escape down the corridor. In the security office, Odo has been alerted to the weapons fire and orders a security team to that section but when they arrive they are fired on by Kot who heads down another corridor, where Dax and Melora are just disembarking from their runabout. He forces them back inside and orders them to depart the station. In Ops, Sisko, Kira and O'Brien are tracking the runabout as it leaves the pad. The Commander orders a tractor beam to be locked onto the ship as he opens a channel to Kot. He intructs him to return to the station immediately but there is no reply. The tractor beam is engaged and the runabout comes to a halt. Kot orders Dax to open a channel to the station and demands that Sisko release them or he will kill a hostage. Sisko offers to negotiate but Kot stops him mid sentence. He turns to Quark but then changes his mind and shoots Melora. An charge is sent tearing through her body as the servos overload. Bashir, who has just arrived in Ops, looks on helplessly as she falls to the deck. Kot orders him to release the tractor beam before closing the channel. Sisko then orders Kira to beam himself, O'Brien and Bashir onto the ''Rio Grande'' and wait ten seconds before releasing the tractor beam. Back on the Orinoco, Kot commands Dax to take the runabout through the wormhole and into the Gamma Quadrant with the Rio Grande in close pursuit. As Kot instructs Dax to go to warp, Melora quietly regains consciousness in the background. Kot asks if the phasers are online but Dax refuses to fire on the Rio Grande and if he kills her he won't be able to fly the ship himself. As she confronts him, Dax notices Melora crawling towards the transporter pad and buys her enough time to deactivate the gravity on the runabout. Kot floats into the air while Melora pushes off and slams him into the bulkhead. On the Rio Grande, O'Brien is monitoring what is happening, reporting that the ship has dropped to impulse. Sisko and Bashir immediately transport over to find the situation has been contained and Kot apprehended. Back on the station, Bashir and Melora are at the Klingon restaurant talking. Bashir seems enthusiastic that her treatments will work but Melora has decided not to go ahead with them. Though she wants to be independant, she fears if she continued with the treatments, she wouldn't be an Elaysian anymore. She thanks Bashir for getting her to realise she can depend on people. The Klingon chef then appears and begins to entartain everyone with a Klingon folk song. The two of them sit and hold hands together as he weaves in and out of the tables. "I want to remember all of this" she smiles. Memorable Quotes "Just passing through are you? I bet you have business in the Gamma Quadrant. You always had a sharp eye for fresh territories." "Oh, I'm not going to the Gamma Quadrant. My business is right here, with you." "With me?" "That's right. I've come to kill you, Quark" : - Quark and Fallit Kot "I'm sure you never set out to attack anyone personally. But you do seem to attack a lot." "That's rather insensitive of you, Doctor." "Julian. I'm no longer your doctor" "I see. You've decided I need a friend." "Oh, was that an attack? You see, you do it so well, with such charm, it's hard to tell" : - Julian Bashir and Melora Pazlar "Are you hungry? I came here thinking about asking you to dinner." "Then afterwards we'll go dancing, I suppose?" "Oh, red alert." : - Julian Bashir and Melora Pazlar "Call me at the first sign of trouble." "What if the first sign is the last sign?" "You people sell pieces of yourself after you die, don't you?" "Yes." "I'll buy one." : - Odo and Quark, referring the Kot's death threat "Tell me something, Lieutenant. You think there's room for romance in Starfleet?" "I think so" "Have you made it work?" "Mmm...now and then" "I mean...really work?" "Oh! Really work?! Well, for that I'd have to go back erm...a hundred and fifty years" "That's a long time" : - Melora Pazlar and Jadzia Dax on the Orinoco Background Information Story and Script * The character of Melora Pazlar was initially to be Deep Space 9's science officer because the producers liked the idea of a character who came from a low-gravity environment. However, due to the difficulty and expense of recreating the effect constantly, the character was replaced by the Trill, Jadzia Dax. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion) * Writer Evan Carlos Somers is himself a paraplegic who uses a wheelchair. Production *Series producer, David Livingston, recalls the difficulties in doing the low gravity scene; "We had a lot of discussions about it. We did a lot less flying than we wanted to because we knew we couldn't pull it off on a television schedule. We used a digital wire-removal process that takes away the wires, and it was very successful, but it's also expensive and time consuming. It's hard enough when people are standing on the ground to shoot them, so when you have them flying around in the air and kissing and hugging, it's tough. But Winrich Kolbe is very technically gounded, and the optical effects people were always there with him to make sure it came out". (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages pg 64) *Director Winrich Kolbe further explains the low gravity scene; "I think it turned out to be rather good, considering the technical difficulties we had. If I like to shoot at three hundred and sixty degrees, I also like to have everybody fly like real birds. The problem is that in episodic television you just don't have enough time to that. The state of the art right now is kind of difficult to do because it's a very time consuming affair. We did it with wires, no mirrors. The unfortunate thing is that I only had two rods to support the wires, so I had to decide, 'Which way do I want her to fly?' Basically straight or it would have required a totally different rig. The rigs that we had were used in ''Wayne's World 2. It was basically a situation where you could fly one way and then the opposite way, and that was about it. It was difficult to figure out what we could do so that it didn't just look like somebody going up and down. The image of Peter Pan going across the stage with one leg cocked and the other leg straight always went through my mind, and I said, 'Oh, God, we can't do that.' We had the stunt coordinator there, and the actress, Daphne Ashbrook, did quite well. She was terrific. She was a good sport and didn't chicken out. One of the most enthusiastic actresses I've ever seen and a damn good actress in addition to that." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages, pg 64) Continuity * This episode marks the first appearance of the Klingon restaurant on the series. * Referenced Rules of Acquisition: #16 ("''A deal is a deal") * Don Stark later appears in as Nicky the Nose. * Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko) does not appear in this episode. Reception * Overall, Michael Piller liked the episode; "This was not an easy show to write. The script probably went through five or six rewrites. I was quite proud of what I wrote in that script because it turned out to be a delightful little show. And the interesting thing about it is that I knew, even when it was over with, that it had no real story to it. It had no real drama, but I thought there was a true romance going on between the actors on stage. It came through on film and I just thought that Daphne Ashbrook gave a wonderful performance. The result was a charming episode, a slice of life for Bashir, and I thought it was a warm episode." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages, pg 64) *Though Piller was unhappy with how B-story turned out; "It was always there because we needed to put these people in jeopardy. But the B-story was a struggle. We never quite knew what it was going to be. The first-draft story had terrorists or something. We did whatever was necessary to bring the two stories together. Everything about that story did not work, including the fact that we were doing a story where an alien has to eat, which becomes a pivotal scene where he's feeding, and makeup designed this big kind of handle across his mouth so he couldn't eat. We had to kind of shove the food down his mouth. It was hilarious. We cracked up during dailies." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages pg 64-65) * Ira Behr thought it was time for a Bashir episode; "We needed a love story for Bashir. We wanted to continue showing the audience why we were investing so much in Bashir, because we just thought it was a character who had a lot of things going for him, and I know there has been some resistance to him, which is just ridiculous. We wanted to do a strong show for him, and I thought it was a nice story. I loved the Klingon restaurant." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages pg 64) *Director Winrich Kolbe said of the episode; "It was more of a romantic little story between two people. Siddig is a wonderful actor and is the type to fall in love with a flying woman. It's a little more restricted because it's a character piece." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages pg 64) * The score for this episode is one of composer Dennis McCarthy's favorites; ""Melora" was one of the most romantic scores that I've had the chance to write and I really enjoyed it. I made it more ethereal than usual, with less horns, letting the woodwinds play in the lighter areas." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion) Video and DVD releases *UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 13, *As part of the DS9 Season 2 DVD collection Links and references Starring *Avery Brooks as Commander Benjamin Sisko Also starring *Rene Auberjonois as Constable Odo *Siddig El Fadil as Doctor Julian Bashir *Terry Farrell as Lieutenant Jadzia Dax *Cirroc Lofton as Jake Sisko *Colm Meaney as Chief Miles O'Brien *Armin Shimerman as Quark *Nana Visitor as Major Kira Nerys Guest stars * Daphne Ashbrook as Melora Pazlar * Peter Crombie as Fallit Kot * Don Stark as Ashrock Co-star * Ron Taylor as the Klingon chef Uncredited co-stars * Majel Barrett as 's computer voice * Ivor Bartels as a Starfleet security officer * Judi Durand as Deep Space 9's computer voice * Mark Lentry as a Starfleet command officer * David B. Levinson as Broik * Robin Morselli as a Bajoran officer * Mark Allen Shepherd as Morn * Unknown performers as: ** Starfleet operations ensign ** Melora's brother (photograph) Stunt doubles * Tom Morga as stunt double for Peter Crombie * Patricia Tallman as stunt double for Daphne Ashbrook References airlock; anti-grav unit; astrometrics; Bashir, Richard; breathing apparatus; cane; cargo lift; dabo; dabo girl; Delvok; diplomat; Elaysia; Elaysians; ensign; Garlanic tree; gladst; Federation; Invernia II; Invernian; Invernian herb; ionic storm; jumbo Vulcan mollusk; Klingon; Klingon restaurant; Klingon language; Lothra; neuromuscular adaptation; ''Orinoco'', USS; Paltriss; Promenade; racht; red alert; replicator; Rhombolian butter; Rings of Paltriss; Quark's; ''Rio Grande'', USS; Romulan ale; shower; Subspace communication; tennis; Teros, Nathaniel; tractor beam; transporter; trolley car; Vak clover soup; ''Yellowstone'', USS; Yridian; zilm'kach External links * * |next= }} de:Das Melora-Problem es:Melora fr:Melora nl:Melora Category:DS9 episodes